Background and Objective: The use of medicinal plants has been known to have effect on diabetes which has been observed to cause high mortality and morbidity rate. The objective of this work was to carry out an analysis of Glutathione reductase (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) activities in diabetic rats treated with Costus lucanusianus. Materials and Methods: Plant material was harvested from the rich forest of Abraka community. The plant was soaked in distilled water for a period of 48 h after which the resulting solution was oven dried to concentrate the extract which was used to treat the diabetic rats. ANOVA was used as statistical tool. Result: It was observed from this study that the activity of GSH in the serum of group B and group C increased moderately, while group D showed slight decrease, in comparison to control group A. Similarly, the activity of GSH in the liver of group B increased moderately, while group C and group D, decreased mildly compared to control group A. Also, the result of MDA activity in the serum showed mild decrease in group B and group C and an increase in group D, in comparison to control group A and MDA activity in the liver of group B and C showed mild increase, while group D showed slight decrease compared to the control group A. Conclusion: The result from this finding has shown that Costus lucanusianus may have an ameliorative effect on diabetes mellitus due to the increase activity of GSH and decrease activity of MDA.
Keywords
liver,Costus lucanusianus,serum,glutathione reductase (GSH),malondialdehyde (MDA),alloxan,diabetes